ABOUT THE ART

Enbukan: The Enbukan is the name for the martial arts organization founded by Machida Kenshinsai in Noda city Japan. The Enbukan contains a large number of different traditional schools passed down through the Machida family, encompassing both weapons and unarmed fighting.

Battojutsu: Battojutsu schools represent one class of traditional sword fighting schools in Japan. Unlike “Iaidō”, Battojutsu focuses on the application of it’s techniques in combat situations – and as such is very rare today even in Japan.

Battojutsu Ryuha of the Enbukan

Fudo Ikken Ryu Battojutsu

Enshin Itto Ryu Battojutsu

Jigen Ryu Battojutsu

Mugai Ryu Kodachi Battojutsu

Shin Mi Tanren Jisen Budo

From ‘New Student’s Guide’Machida Kenshinsai

The following is from a short writing by Machida Kenshinsai as part of a letter intended to be included in a ‘student guide’ for the Enbukan.

Budo is not a sport exercise. It is a self-defense technique against a sudden attack.

When you are confronted by violence the police or others may not be able to protect you. If you can’t defend yourself you might be killed. This is the way of the world that we live in – defend yourself or you will be killed.

According to the

essence of Budo’s teaching, before an enemy attacks you attack your enemy with calm, quick and precise motion.

Originally, Budo teaching started during the ancient Nan Hoku Cho period and continued to the present time. It is mentioned in the writings of the Tokugawa Military Government.

As it is taught today, Enbukan training consists of some or all of the almost thirty schools of which Machida Kenshinsai is either Soke (master and lineage holder), or holds the rank of Menkyo Kaiden (master, completed teachings). Individual students of Kancho Machida typically study only some fraction of these schools. On the Enbukan of Southern California dojo, the schools which are taught are all sword schools, and all schools of which Kancho Machida is Soke.

These schools are of a special kind among what is generally available today. While most sword schools have evolved or been modified to focus directly on the more abstract spiritual or mental benefits of sword training, the Enbukan sword sch

ools retain their original structure. The philosophy of the Enbukan – shared by only very few surviving Kobudo schools – is that only through studying the arts as combat martial arts is it possible to fully realize the deeper esoteric teachings that these schools have to offer.

With this in mind, the training in the Enbukan of Southern California Dojo focuses on maintaining a harmony between actual applied training and the deeper learnings which have accompanied that training for hundreds if not thousands of years.